Juan Manuel Marquez needs to forget about fighting Pacquiao

By Boxing News - 12/28/2010 - Comments

Image: Juan Manuel Marquez needs to forget about fighting PacquiaoBy Dave Lahr: WBA/WBO lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez needs to forget all about facing his old nemesis Manny Pacquiao in the future because it’s pretty clear at this point that Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum doesn’t plan on putting his cash cow Pacquiao back in there with Marquez. I can’t blame Arum, because I had Marquez beating Pacquiao both times when they fought in the past. Arum obviously doesn’t want his gravy train fighter to get beaten and end up devalued before Arum gets a chance of putting him in with Floyd Mayweather Jr.

In the latest news, Arum is talking about Marquez having to prove himself at welterweight before he’ll agree to let him fight Pacquiao. Arum wants Marquez to have to fight and beat World Boxing Council welterweight champion Andre Berto before Arum will give him a shot against Pacquiao, even though Pacquiao hasn’t fought Berto himself. Pacquiao is being matched up against Shane Mosley, who if he’s not fully shot, he’s definitely partially shot. Arum has decided to put Pacquiao in with Mosley because he’s better known among casual fans.

Arum is willing to sacrifice quality in order to have Pacquiao in with a named fighter. This could end up going really badly if Mosley runs out of gas early like he did against Mayweather or if he looks sloppy and old like he did in his last fight against Sergio Mora. As far as Marquez goes, he’s not likely going to fight Berto just to have the chance to fight Pacquiao. I think he would if there was an was absolute guarantee that it would get him a shot against Pacquiao, but he’s smart enough to realize that even if he beat Berto, the bar would likely raised again by Arum or he would make some excuse about Marquez having priced himself out of the negotiations.

Marquez doesn’t need Pacquiao. He can move on and fight other guys in the division like Humberto Soto or move up in weight and take on WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan. That fight will drum up a lot of interest among boxing fans and will give Marquez a good payday. Arum is probably going to continue to keep Pacquiao fighting in house guys like Miguel Cotto again and whoever else Arum has in his stable.



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